New chapter of World Teacher is out! (1/1 chapter)

 

 

Why and What Magic

(Thank you for reading at bayabuscotranslation.com)

My previous life’s me did not know my parents. By the time I became aware, I was in an institution, and that institution was destroyed by a criminal terror attack.

I alone survived and wandered until a certain woman took me in. She was an eccentric living deep in the mountains, a secret place where no one visited, and an abnormally strong person. The reason I survived for sixty years was probably because of this woman, my Shishou, who trained me. Put another way, I endured living hell until my Shishou died.

Even then, I had not seen my parents’ faces, but I was not that pessimistic about my parents, then or now. After all, my spirit was that of a man over sixty years old, and here I had Erina-san, Noel, and Dee, so I was not lonely. Anyway, now that I had clothing, food, and shelter, I only needed to train my body as quickly as possible.

 

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Half a year has passed.

Today as always, I sneak past the maids’ eyes and do my daily exercise. Though called exercise, it is more like calisthenics where I swing my arms and legs. Since my body is still a baby’s, if I overdo it, a fatal injury is certain. Despite appearances, I carry out my plan properly.
The one who devised it was my Shishou.

“If only I had picked you up before you became aware. Then you would have become a warrior who surpasses me.” (Shishou)

“Before I become a warrior, Shishou would definitely kill me.” (Sirius)

“Well, I’ll neither let you live nor die. I’ll do it with proper care.” (Shishou)

“That’s just death!” (Sirius)

She gleefully explained to me the plan she had even given the uncool name “Born into Hell Training”. I never thought I would be the one to do it. The content was harsh and cruel, but since it made sense, I added my own adjustments and polished it. It was very hard, but I felt growth with each passing day, which made me happy.

The other day, I proudly showed off that I could now crawl. The moment Noel saw it, she raised her ears and tail and dashed at full speed toward Erina-san. When I showed it off again in front of everyone, she was so happy she almost jumped. Erina-san, who usually did not drink, seemed to be happily drunk at dinner. Their level of parent-like indulgence continued to rise daily.

 

—

 

One year since birth.

My body was steadily growing. The daily exercises had now changed into muscle training such as push-ups and sit-ups. I wanted to start jogging soon to train stamina. The debut of walking was also near.

“Yes, yes, Sirius-sama. Please watch again today.” (Noel)

However, Noel’s lively attitude did not change. Though Erina-san stopped her because using fire was dangerous, she still came to show magic. I wanted to use magic someday too, so it was helpful that she showed it.

“I ask you. Decode the principle of fire and materialize the messenger of the fire god. ‘Flame!’” (Noel)

She closed her eyes, completed the words necessary to release magic, and a ball of fire appeared. It was always a wonder to see. The principle behind it, what fuel it burned on, and so forth.

“Fufuu, now my Onee-chan dignity is secure. I can’t do anything else well though.” (Noel)

Young lady, you are letting a lot slip. You just want to act like a big sister, don’t you? From the perspective of an old man’s mind, it is cute to see a child trying hard to grow up.

It was needless to say that she got scolded by Erina-san after that.

 

—

 

The next day, after waking up and finishing muscle training, I tried magic. It would have been nice if there had been a textbook, but there was no book at all in the surroundings. Whether paper was scarce or not I would find out later, but the only information on magic I had was the ball of fire Noel showed me. I tried to imitate the same procedure, but… nothing happened. Maybe I lacked concentration, or maybe another element was missing.

I struggled for a while, but still nothing happened. Well, I would ask once I could hold a conversation. I hoped they would not say I had no talent.

After lunch, everyone gathered in the living room. In the relaxed post-meal atmosphere, Erina -san and Noel knitted. Dee was preparing tea. Sitting on the carpet watching the three, I executed the plan.

“Erina-san, Sirius-sama is looking this way, you know?” (Noel)

“Is that so? I wonder if he is interested in knitting.” (Erina)

“Eri—” (Sirius)

“!?” (Erina)

The knitting dropped from Erina-san’s hand.

“…Sirius-sama. Once again. Please, once again.” (Erina)

“Erina —” (Sirius)

“Ah… ah…” (Erina)

She was moved to tears!

“Sirius-sama! Me too, me too please! Noel! No-e-l!” (Erina)

That’s close to my face. It might be funny if I joked and called her Dee, but since she would probably get seriously depressed, I’d call her properly.

“Noel—” (Sirius)
“Kyaa! Sirius-sama, please show me next, Onee-chan!” (Noel)

What is this girl saying in the confusion?

I ignored it. When I turned around, Dee had come close and pointed to himself, as if to say “Me?”

“Dee—” (Sirius)

“…Yes.” (Dee)

His expression was unchanged as always, but his eyes were closed as if savoring the moment. However, my turn was not over yet. I put strength in my legs and stood up. Facing Erina-san wiping tears, I slowly took a step forward.

“Si-Sirius-sama!? Could it be that…” (Erina)

“He is walking! Sirius-sama is walking!” (Noel)

Suddenly walking fast would be creepy, so I occasionally added a stagger while moving forward. It was only five steps, but when I safely reached Erina-san who was waiting with arms wide open, I was immediately hugged by the two of them.

“That was a wonderful achievement, Sirius-sama. Erina is proud!” (Erina)

“He is a genius! This one is definitely a genius!” (Noel)

The two frantically rejoicing were rough with me, which hurt a little. Dee, who might have stopped them, disappeared to prepare dinner, which was a treat. Maybe I overdid it a little.

That day, it was hard to stop Erina-san from guzzling wine (as a baby should).

The next day, I extended my walking distance even further. I thought these people would overlook abnormal growth due to their parent-like bias. Starting jogging in half a month instead of a month seems no problem.

The problem was magic. Since it was completely absent in my previous life, I had no idea how to start. I unlocked language at a broken level, so I would somehow try to hear from Noel.

“Today I will show you a different magic. Um, I think this one is not dangerous.” (Noel)

Noel came again today, holding a book in her hand. Nice, Noel. I was waiting for that. She probably intends to secretly watch, but it’s obvious, so hurry and show me the book. I pointed at the book and appealed with all my might to show it.

“Eh, you are interested in this? Um, wait a moment please.” (Noel)

She probably went to get Erina-san’s permission.

She would have shown it without permission before, but I guess she has grown a little?

While I was moved by her growth, Noel returned with permission. We would probably read it together. The book, which she told me was the “Beginner Magic Art Textbook,” was finally opened on her soft lap. But now that I looked at the opened book before me… I suddenly realized I cannot read the letters. I had no choice but to wait for Noel’s reading aloud.

“Umm, magic is the primordial principle. It is still an unexplained phenomenon, but it is said to be an omnipotent existence that brings blessings to all… or so it says. I do not understand it at all.” (Noel)

This young girl answered with a broad smile. Though I myself could not even understand the characters, it was odd for me to say, but since she used that magic, she should at least have made an effort to understand it. Even though I did not understand, Noel continued reading aloud. The author’s grammar was extremely roundabout, and since I could not read the characters, it was difficult to comprehend. I thought I would try to summarize what I understood in my own way.

Magic was a phenomenon caused by using the mana that filled the world. Mana was invisible, but it existed everywhere, and we humans also had mana within us and lived because of it. Using the mana inside one’s own body and activating a fireball like Noel did was the general kind of magic.

It seemed that one could also activate magic by drawing a magic circle and flowing their own mana through it. This was used in magical tools called magical apparatuses, which provided light at night or created fire for cooking. Drawing them was extremely delicate, and because the activation happened through the magic circle, the power was weak. Once drawn, it could be used repeatedly unless worn down, so it had settled into everyday life items.

Also, there was something called “spirit magic” which borrowed the power of spirits to activate. Spirit… sounded like something a middle schooler would like. However, the biggest problem was being favored by spirits, and the users were extremely rare. Spirits were beings that could not be seen or touched, so one could only wait for an approach from the spirits. The conditions to be favored were still unexplained.

Putting aside the mysterious spirits, magic activation required chanting. By moving one’s mouth to chant, the mana inside the body gathered and magic activated. It seemed that if there were certain keywords, magic would activate, and as an example, the keyword Noel used was “Flame.”

If there was a keyword that conveyed “I understand the concept of fire and wish to create fire myself”, the magic activated. Researchers were said to be studying day and night to shorten the chants even a little. “Flame” was a beginner fire-attribute magic, and the chant Noel spoke was exactly as written in this book.

Using magic reduced mana and caused fatigue. It started with a feeling of exhaustion throughout the whole body, eventually causing fainting, and if bad, death. Regarding the amount of mana inside the body, it seemed there were large differences from birth, and even if one tried to increase it, the growth rate was very low. Growth was only repeated by using mana to the limit and then recovering it, but the recovery was very slow. According to examples in the textbook, it took about a year to increase the capacity by just one use. Increasing the amount by using it more was like muscle training, but because it was inefficient, it might have been better to do it casually.

Or rather, if one’s own mana was small, why not rely on external mana? Mana drifted in the atmosphere, so using that should have made it easier to use a lot of strong magic, right? Thinking that, the textbook said it was meaningless. It seemed the quality of one’s own mana and the drifting mana were different. For example, if the mana humans used was black mana, the mana in the atmosphere was white mana. Since it used mana to convert white into black, even if one gathered a lot, the amount was deducted correspondingly, so the power was not significant. No wonder it said meaningless.

As important as one’s own amount of mana was “attribute”. This also seemed to be decided at birth, and the attribute did not change for life. Since Noel used “Flame”, naturally her attribute was fire.

If the attribute was fire, one excelled at fire magic; if water, water magic excelled. Once one knew the attribute, the direction of magic became obvious. Apparently, it was not impossible to use other attributes, but the power dropped significantly.

When Noel finished reading the part about attributes, she closed the book. Since I was absorbed in listening, quite some time had passed.

“Phew, let’s stop here for today. I’m tired of reading aloud too.” (Noel)

“Good work. I made some tea, so take a break.” (Erina)

“Wow! Erina-san, when did you get here?” (Noel)

When I turned around, Erina-san was making tea with a soft smile.

“Just a moment ago. More importantly, you must be thirsty, right? I’ll take care of Sirius-sama.” (Erina)

“Thank you very much.” (Noel)

I was carried and placed onto Erina-san’s lap. Noel’s young lap had felt nice too, but Erina-san’s was on another level. There was an incredible sense of security. Erina-san gently stroked my head and took the book.

“You studied very diligently. If it were Sirius-sama, you would probably use magic soon.” (Erina)

“Ahaha, that’s not true. I struggled a lot even at beginner level, and I can’t even read the characters properly.” (Noel)

“That’s true. But still, I think Sirius-sama can do it.” (Erina)

“Hmm, I can’t completely deny it either. Still, it will be a few years ahead.” (Noel)

The two laughed while drinking tea.

Hmm, if it’s me… If they expect it, I have to live up to those expectations. First, I have to start by learning to read characters.

“Attributes, huh. By the way, what is Sirius-sama’s attribute?” (Noel)

I thought that too.

I don’t particularly care about the attribute, but fire or water would be convenient, I think.

“Shall we check? I have a judging tool in my room.” (Noel)

“That one, right? I’ll go get it.”

The attribute judging tool Noel brought was a simple device that had a round crystal placed in the center of a small furoshiki cloth. The cloth was drawn with complex patterns, probably a magic circle described in the book. It was a magic circle depicting the four basic attributes “fire,” “water,” “wind,” and “earth”, and when you place your hand on it, the crystal glows in the color of the person’s attribute.

“Umm, flowing mana to activate… There, ready.” (Noel)

“Then, Sirius-sama, please put your hand here.” (Noel)

“Okay.”

A little excited, I placed my hand. The change was instantaneous. The crystal emitted a dazzling light and I instinctively closed my eyes. Since I was staring at it up close, it would have been bad if I were late. I instinctively took my hand away, and when I opened my eyes, the light had disappeared. It vanished before I could tell what color it was.

“Erina-sama, that just now was…” (Noel)

“Yes, a strong light. But…” (Erina)

Huh?

Their expressions and words were stiff.

Since they don’t seem to be stopping me, I’ll try again.

This time I shielded my eyes with the opposite hand and checked the color of the crystal’s light. And the color of the light the crystal emitted was…

“As I thought, colorless…” (Noel)

“That can’t be…” (Erina)

Huh? Why do they look so sad? I thought it was quite a strong light, but is this a bad pattern? Do I really have no talent, or is that the ending?

Slightly confused, Erina-san gently embraced me with a face that looked like she was about to cry.

“God is… cruel. Sirius-sama. I… I will definitely protect you.” (Erina)

“Me too~” (Noel)

Why am I being looked at with pity? Please explain it to me. My feelings will never reach them, and the two of them began caring for me more than usual.

But “colorless”… huh. I have a bad feeling about this.

 

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(Thank you for reading at bayabuscotranslation.com)